Unlike the five Gerry Anderson series that preceded it, Joe
90 was not incorporated into the famous TV Century 21
comic - at least, not to begin with. The series had its own weekly comic,
Joe 90 Top Secret, which lasted for 34 issues.

The comic's regular strips were Joe 90, Ninepence
+ Tenpence = Sport, Star Trek (colour),
The Champions, and Land Of The Giants
(colour).

Features are Joe Facts, Joe's Hobbies (The Story
Of Space Travel Told In Stamps No.1.), The B.I.G. R.A.T.
Tells The Story Of Mac's Jet-Air Car, a competition to
win 50 Corgi Chipperfield's Menagerie Transporters, information
on Nemesis and The Champions, World Intelligence
Network (an observation test and jokes), and Top Ten
Racing Cars No1 - Lotus-Ford.

Curiously, according to the quiz and the
Star Trek strip, the captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise
is Captain Kurt. Hmmm...

Features are Joe's Case, Joe's Hobbies (The
Story Of Space Travel Told In Stamps No. 2.), The B.I.G.
R.A.T. Tells The Story Of Camp Century - Ice Town, a competition
to win 25 Corgi American La France Aerial Rescue Trucks,
Champions Of Sport - Billy Bremner, World Intelligence
Network (quizzes and jokes), and Top Ten No.2 - Matra/Cosworth
V8.

Features are Joe's House, Joe's Hobbies (The
Story Of Space Travel Told In Stamps No. 3.), The B.I.G.
R.A.T. Tells The Story Of The World's First Superjet,
Champions Of Sport - Alan Ball, World Intelligence
Network (quizzes and jokes), a competition to win 50 Corgi
Racing Sets, and Top Ten No.3 - Cooper.

Features are Inside The Lab, Joe's Hobbies (The
Story Of Space Travel As Told In Stamps No. 4.), Football
Champions Of Europe - Manchester United, The B.I.G.
R.A.T. Tells The Story Of The Space Mapper, World Intelligence
Network (information and jokes), a competition to win 50
Corgi "Holmes Wreckers", and Top Ten No.4 - Honda V12.

Features are Quiz 90, Joe's Hobbies (The Story
Of Space Travel Told In Stamps No. 5), The B.I.G. R.A.T.
Tells The Story Of X-15, Champions Of Sport - David
Hemery, World Intelligence Network (information
and jokes), a competition to win 100 Corgi Ghia Mangustas, and
Top Ten Racing Cars No.5 - Ferrari.

Features on W.I.N. Agents In Action (readers sending
in pictures of themselves on "missions"), Joe's Hobbies
(The Story Of Space Travel Told In Stamps No. 6), The
B.I.G. R.A.T. Tells The Story Of The Sea Searchers,
B.I.G. R.A.T. Examines Your Reactions To Joe 90 Top Secret
(letters page, including three that totally pan the comic),
Champions Of Sport - Roger Taylor, World Intelligence
Network (quizzes and jokes), a competition to win 100 Corgi
Monkeemobiles, and Top Ten Racing Cars No.6 - The Eagle.

Features on W.I.N. Agents In Action (readers sending
in pictures of themselves on "missions"), Champions Of Sport
- George Best, The B.I.G. R.A.T. Tells The Story Of
Water Factories, World Intelligence Network (quizzes
and jokes), Joe's Hobbies (The Story Of Space Travel Told
In Stamps No. 7.), a competition to win 50 Corgi Lincoln
Limousines, and Top Ten Racing Cars No.7 - Repco-Brabham.

Features on W.I.N. Agents In Action (readers sending
in pictures of themselves on "missions"), Joe's Hobbies
(The Story Of Space Travel Told In Stamps No. 8.),
Isle of Man TT, The B.I.G. R.A.T. Tells The Story Of
Luxury Lifeboats, World Intelligence Network (information
and jokes), a competition to win 100 Corgi "E" Type Jaguars,
and Top Ten Racing Cars No.8 - McLaren.

Features are Agents' Fotofile (readers' photographs),
Joe's Hobbies (The Story Of Space Travel As Told In Stamps
No. 9.), a competition to win 100 Corgi 'Safari' VW's,
World Intelligence Network (information and jokes),
Champions Of Sport - Harvey Smith, The B.I.G. R.A.T.
Tells The Story Of Controlling The Weather, and Top
Ten No.9 - BRM V12.

Features are Agents' Profile (readers' photographs),
a competition to win 50 Corgi The Beatles Yellow Submarines,
Joe's Hobbies (The Story Of Space Travel As Told In Stamps
No. 10), Champions Of Sport - Graham Hill,
World Intelligence Network (information and jokes),
The B.I.G. R.A.T. Tells The Story Of Bridge-Tunnel, and
Top Ten No.10 - Matra MS11 - V12.

Features are Agents' Fotofile (readers' photographs),
a competition to win 50 Corgi Gift Sets (Oldsmobile Tornado
with Glastron Sportsman Speedboat), Joe's Hobbies (The Story
Of Space Travel Told In Stamps No. 12), World Intelligence
Network (quizzes and jokes), Champions Of Sport - Diane
Towler and Bernard Ford, The B.I.G. R.A.T. Tells The
Story Of Putting The Atom To Work, and Great Britain
Eleven No. 2 Full Back - Eddie McCreadie.

Features are Fotofile (readers' photographs),
Joe's Hobbies (The Story Of Space Travel... Told In Stamps
No. 15), a competition to win 100 Corgi Daktari
Gift Sets, World Intelligence Network (quizzes and
jokes), Champions Of Sport - Colin Cowdrey and Colin Milburn,
The B.I.G. R.A.T. Tells The Story Of The Tallest Building
In The World, and Great Britain Eleven No. 5 Sweeper
- Nobby Stiles.

Features are a teaser for the Joe 90 competition
in the next issue, a competition to win 100 Corgi Renault R
16 models, Joe's Hobbies (The Story Of Space Travel As Told
In Stamps No. 16), The B.I.G. R.A.T. Tells The Story
Of The First Nuclear Merchant Ship, World Intelligence
Network ("missions" and a crossword), Champions Of
Sport - Sky Diving, and Great Britain Eleven No. 6
Mid-Field Player - Billy Bremner.

No Joe 90 strip this week - instead, part
one of a competition offering the chance to become The Most
Special Agent for 5 days.

Features are Joe's Hobbies (The Story Of Space Travel
Told In Stamps No. 17), a competition to win 100 Corgi
European Volkswagen Police Cars, World Intelligence Network
(quizzes), Champions Of Sport - Surfing, The B.I.G.
R.A.T. Tells The Story Of The International Ice Patrol,
and Great Britain Eleven No. 7 Link-Man - Bobby Charlton.

Again, no Joe 90 strip in this issue - part
two of the competition for "A Week Of Action!", which included
a trip to the MGM Studios in Borehamwood to see filming on an
episode of UFO.

Features are The B.I.G. R.A.T. Tells The Story Of Transcontinental
Train, Joe's Hobbies (The Story Of Space Travel Told
In Stamps No. 18), a competition to win 100 Corgi 007 Aston
Martins, World Intelligence Network (a crossword and
a query), Champions Of Sport - Skiing, and Great
Britain Eleven No. 8 Mid-field Player - Denis Law.

Features are Action Fotofile (readers sending in
pictures of themselves on "missions"), Joe Facts (Number
three - The Underwater Camera), The B.I.G. R.A.T. Tells
The Story Of Under The North Pole... By Submarine!, a competition
to win 50 Corgi Massey Ferguson Combine Harvesters, World
Intelligence Network (quizzes), Champions Of Sport
- Champion Horses, and Great Britain Eleven No. 11
Striker - George Best.

The winner of the competition in issues 17 and 18 was announced
- take a bow, Paul Grainger from Shuttlewood, Chesterfield,
Derbyshire. There was also a full-page advertisement for
"Space-Age Models" from Kellogg's Sugar Smacks, featuring
box artwork with Joe on the front.

Features are a competition to win 100 Corgi Cooper-Maserati
Formula 1 Racing Cars, The B.I.G. R.A.T. Tells The Story
Of Looking At The Moon, They've Transferred! (expensive
football transfers), World Intelligence Network (quizzes
and readers' photographs), And They All Escaped! (car
crashes), and The R.A.F. Today No. 8 - VC10.

Another nice Star Trek cover, but sadly
this issue marks a serious downturn in the quality of the comic,
with fewer features and a blander layout. Features are In
Top Gear (motorcycle racing), New Science News
(car developments), The Sky Divers, and The Fighting
Whirly-Bird (the Huey-Cobra helicopter).

Features are New Science News (the moon-clock),
Kings Of The Palace (Crystal Palace football club),
How Did They Start? (Sir Neville Barnes Wallis),
How It Works - The Hollow Charge, a competition to
win 100 Corgi "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" models, Danger Unlimited!
- Fire Fighter! and The Mighty and the Mite (the
Gnat advanced trainer).

Someone at City Magazines forgot which comic they were working
on, as the introduction to the How Did They Start?
feature begins "TV21 looks at..." Or maybe they jumped
the gun on what was coming a few weeks later...

Features are Great Flying 'Firsts', New SCIENCE
News - Invisible Beams, How did they start? - Doctor
Wernher von Braun, Danger Unlimited - Unexploded Bomb!,
a competition to win 100 Corgi Mini-Marcos GT 850 models,
How It Works - The Carburettor, and The R.A.F.
Today No. 10. - Belvedere (What? Last week was number 11!)

Features are Great Sea 'Firsts', New SCIENCE
News - Breathing water, under water, The R.A.F. Today
No. 12. - Argosy, Calling All Readers (information
on the comic's merger with TV21), Space Stoppers!,
a competition to win 100 Corgi Concorde models, and How
It Works - The Altimeter .

After no. 34, the comic merged with
TV21 as TV21 & Joe 90 (and started again from
issue 1). Issue 37 saw the name Joe 90 vanish from
the title: by issue 40 all of the Anderson-related strips had
vanished, and TV21 itself merged with Valiant
comic after issue 105. A sad end to a unique publishing venture.

Anderson-related strips made a reappearance
in 1971 in a new comic - Countdown. Joe 90
appeared sporadically, along with Fireball XL5,
Stingray, Thunderbirds,
Captain Scarlet, UFO, and
even The Secret Service.

The Gerry Anderson Complete Comic History web site has a lengthy
article on the Joe 90 Top Secret and TV21 & Joe 90
comics, as well as comics featuring many other Anderson shows. It's
highly recommended and is well worth a visit.